What had
he been saying? Sebastian took a moment to remember, and then blushed
and looked away as he realized his pause had been noticed. She looked
at him inquiringly, her expression concerned, as though worried her
flawless appearance might be marred by something unsightly, but then
the ship lurched beneath them.

'I think
I'm going to be sick.' She stumbled to the side and bent over the
deck, but she did not throw up.

Sebastian
forced himself to get over the shock of that first real sight of
Miranda Aisling and followed her across the deck. 'You'll find
your sea legs soon enough Miss Miranda.'

He was not
prepared for the angry retort. Why would anyone want to live in that
world they had found her in? It was… he shook his head. His low
opinions of the realm of reality meant nothing. It was her home, and
that was reason enough to want to go back.

She was so
beautiful. She was confident but uncertain. She talked logic and
rational but her eyes were full of sorrow and fear that had no reason
to be there. She clung to the rationality of her world over the
wonders of his, just as she clung to the grief of her mother's
passing.

All these
things, Sebastian realized in those moments of first meeting her, and
so when she yelled at him, he stepped back. He understood what she
was thinking, but not what he should say. Was there anything he could
say? Was there anything she was ready to hear? Besides, maybe the
reason she wanted to go home so badly was that there was someone
waiting for her there. Who was he to interfere, when he knew beyond a
doubt that she would eventually have to go back there anyway?

*

What was
she doing? Why couldn't they open the door? Sebastian rubbed his
shoulder once and ran at the door again, but it didn't budge.
'Miranda!' His cry was joined by Cassey's and Alan's, but
there was no answering call from the other side.

And then,
there was the most ethereal sound. Sebastian recognized it at once,
though he had never heard it so close before. Mermaid song. The ship
stilled. The ocean started to calm. As a group, they all ran at the
door again, and it burst open so easily they almost all tripped over
each other when they froze in surprise.

Laying
across the deck in a ray of moonlight, her limbs spread around her
like a starfish, was Miranda. The white of her nightdress seemed to
shine in the silver spotlight, and it took a second for any of them
to move again. They held their breath, afraid that she was dead,
however lovely she looked in this one moment, but also marvelling in
the fact that she was there at all, however near death she may be.

It was her
sister who broke the spell. She rushed to her side and checked her
pulse. 'She's alive!' Cassey yelled.

Alan was
there in a flash. He scooped Miranda tenderly into his arms and
carried her back to them. They laid her on the couch in the library,
and Alan checked her over thoroughly. Her eyelids were not completely
closed, but beneath them her eyes trembled oddly, and she seemed to
be blinking so rapidly the motion couldn't be seen, though the
movement could. Sebastian had never felt so worried, or so useless.

Leaning
over the back of the couch, Sebastian hardly had the best position
around Miranda's unconscious body, but he passed the vial of
smelling salts under her nose without spilling all over her, and then
pulled his hand away. They all leaned over her, even Malachi, so
Sebastian didn't feel like he was showing too much concern, though
when she opened her eyes he couldn't stop himself from grinning.

*

And in
that moment, when their lips met, Sebastian forgot about the battle.
He forgot about the fear, and the wonder of the dragon above them,
and the terror, and the danger, and the trolls. He forgot about his
nervousness, and his constant reminders not to get attached, and the
fact that she would soon be going back to her own world, and after a
moment, he even forgot about his surprise.

There was
only one world. That one moment. There was only the two of them, and
though the kiss ended all too soon, that moment would go on forever.

He didn't
get to say goodbye to Miranda Aisling. In a way, that kiss had been
their goodbye. They both knew that was all they would ever have, but
for two people who had so little in common, not even a single realm
of existence, maybe, just maybe, it was enough.

The End

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